Wineries in Portugal

Though it is a small country, Portugal is a proud country with plenty of tourist attractions and many wineries for people to visit. Many of these wineries are over two hundred years old, and as such they have had plenty of practice making the greatest wine in the business, and perhaps even the world. When you visit the country of Portugal you might be interested in visiting one of these historic sites and perhaps even sampling their products. Sometimes though it is difficult to find out where the wineries are. After all, being in a foreign country can be a bit disorienting, and sometimes a map just won’t do the trick! For this reason we have provided a list of wineries in Portugal that you could try out.

Cockburn

This Port House was established in 1815 in the Douro Valley Region. Incidentally there is a river that runs through the valley and several different cruises are conducted. However that is another story for another day. Cockburn has several different wines that you can enjoy, some of which are aged ten or even twenty years. When you drink this wine you know that you are drinking something of high quality, from a company that truly knows the business and cares about it’s product.

Dow Port Winery

In 1798, a merchant named Bruno Da Silva began importing wine into London, and soon enough his son joined the business, and helped to create a company called Silva and Coens. The Dow Port Winery was eventually created in Portugal, and soon enough it began making some of the greatest wine in the country. You can still buy their fine wines today in ample quantity. Some of their wine has been aged well over forty years.

Fonsesca Port

This winery was established in 1822, and by 1840 it was one of the largest wine exporters. Today it makes many different wines, and just like any other winery it has it’s own aged selection. As you know it takes years to make wine anyway, but their ten year old selection is quite exquisite.

Taylor’s

Of all the wineries in the Port Country, you will find that Taylor’s is the only company that is completely family owned and operated. The winery has been around for four centuries, having started in around 1830. It is still owned by the same family and does not look to be changing any time soon. This is truly a living legacy and a testament to what can be accomplished if you try hard enough.

Warre’s

Now we come to the winery that has been around the longest. We’re not quite sure how long, but we know that there are records dating back to the 1670’s. The demand for wine was great, especially after the signing of the Methuen Treaty, as the duty on Portuguese wine was lowered immensely.

When you step back and take a look, you see not just creators of great alcohol, you see a huge part of Portuguese history. It is a rich and colorful history, and if you haven’t figured it out by now, wine has played a huge part in the development of every country. There are many more wineries available for visiting and sampling in the country, and finding them will only involve a quick internet search or a query of the local population. There might even be guided tours available that take you to all of the best wineries in the country. Such tours would most likely include accommodations and and even a decent back story on how each winery came into existence and what it has accomplished in that time. To study wine is to study history, and you have a great chance to do so when you visit Portugal.